About the Role

As a Partnerships Development Associate, you will work closely with employees of the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Kenya and other global offices, as well as external clients and partners, to strengthen and coordinate business development practices and processes.

A Partnerships Development Associate is expected to be able to quickly gain an expert understanding of a particular problem and use all tools at their disposal, both within and outside Busara, to develop a proposal, strategy or internal process to a high quality. The role holder is expected to have strong business development, writing and organizational skills, as well as an understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The ideal applicant is an excellent communicator who thrives meeting new people, enjoys making connections, and bringing innovative ideas into new spaces. A curiosity mindset is encouraged, and familiarity with funding cycles, development organization landscapes and research and design organizations is a plus.

As a Partnerships Development Associate, you will collaborate closely with our teams, external clients, and partners. You will aim to enhance and coordinate our business development practices, foster strategic partnerships, and ensure impactful outcomes.

This is a growth-oriented position, and under successful circumstances, the ideal candidate can expect to grow within the partnerships division and the organization.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities

CORE PARTNERSHIPS RESPONSIBILITIES

Pipeline & Opportunity Management

• Scout and identify new opportunities across funders, implementers, and research partners, both proactively and through inbound channels.
• Maintain CRM compliance and metrics tracking in Copper, ensuring all submitted opportunities are logged consistently.
• Support proposal development, drafting sections, accessing approved technical content, coordinating inputs across teams, and ensuring submissions are responsive to partner priorities.
• Manage submissions and maintenance of Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) with partner organizations, including tracking timelines and compliance requirements, and collecting input from relevant teams.
• Forging strategic partnerships with academic, commercial, public sector, and third sector organizations, with whom we can design, test, and scale solutions, with support from Senior Leadership.
• Manage a pipeline of organizations to watch.

Partnership Support Services

• Maintain the BD calendar, including trainings, conference schedules, and the cadence of the Director Activation Strategy.
• Plan and coordinate trainings for internal staff, including scheduling, materials preparation, and follow-up.
• Support facilitation of partner landscape analysis as part of the Director Activation Strategy, initially in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Attend external networking meetings alongside senior leadership, responsible for note-taking, drafting follow-up communications, and identifying next steps.
• Manage follow-ups from high-level meetings, ensuring commitments are captured and actioned.
• Update and maintain the Partnership Development landing page, ensuring content is current, accurate, and aligned with Busara's positioning.
• Support the development of partnership tools, templates, and resources.
• Advocate for knowledge management within Busara’s Partnerships function.
• Operator of partnership intelligence methodology.

Internal Coordination & Cross-Team Collaboration

• Serve as internal liaison between the Partnership Development function and other Busara teams, ensuring delivery teams are connected to the right technical and operational expertise.
• Facilitate the creation and coordination of inter-portfolio delivery teams when opportunities cut across thematic areas.

Administrative support

• Maintain and improve internal Partnerships Team resources (e.g., shared team drives) and ensure that content is relevant, appropriate, and up to date.
• Assist in the planning and execution of weekly Partnerships team meetings.
• Assist the VP, Partnerships, in the tabulation and reporting of business development targets and attainments.
• Plan and manage logistics for Busara roadshows, including scheduling, briefing materials, and follow-up coordination.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or other related field
• 1-3 years of previous work experience related to business development or partnership relationship management.
• Experience in managing large proposal development processes across multiple teams.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
• Outgoing personality and enjoys making connections with new people.
• Ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methods.
• Excellent management and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
• Interest and experience working in a fast-paced environment.

Desired Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields
• Experience in business development with core Busara funders, e.g., the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, USAID, DfID, etc., will be an added advantage.
• Experience in developing country contexts.
• Experience managing or mentoring staff.
• Familiarity with behavioral science.

• Scout and identify new opportunities across funders, implementers, and research partners, both proactively and through inbound channels.
• Maintain CRM compliance and metrics tracking in Copper, ensuring all submitted opportunities are logged consistently.
• Support proposal development, drafting sections, accessing approved technical content, coordinating inputs across teams, and ensuring submissions are responsive to partner priorities.
• Manage submissions and maintenance of Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) with partner organizations, including tracking timelines and compliance requirements, and collecting input from relevant teams.
• Forging strategic partnerships with academic, commercial, public sector, and third sector organizations, with whom we can design, test, and scale solutions, with support from Senior Leadership.
• Manage a pipeline of organizations to watch.
• Maintain the BD calendar, including trainings, conference schedules, and the cadence of the Director Activation Strategy.
• Plan and coordinate trainings for internal staff, including scheduling, materials preparation, and follow-up.
• Support facilitation of partner landscape analysis as part of the Director Activation Strategy, initially in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Attend external networking meetings alongside senior leadership, responsible for note-taking, drafting follow-up communications, and identifying next steps.
• Manage follow-ups from high-level meetings, ensuring commitments are captured and actioned.
• Update and maintain the Partnership Development landing page, ensuring content is current, accurate, and aligned with Busara's positioning.
• Support the development of partnership tools, templates, and resources.
• Advocate for knowledge management within Busara’s Partnerships function.
• Operator of partnership intelligence methodology.
• Serve as internal liaison between the Partnership Development function and other Busara teams, ensuring delivery teams are connected to the right technical and operational expertise.
• Facilitate the creation and coordination of inter-portfolio delivery teams when opportunities cut across thematic areas.
• Maintain and improve internal Partnerships Team resources (e.g., shared team drives) and ensure that content is relevant, appropriate, and up to date.
• Assist in the planning and execution of weekly Partnerships team meetings.
• Assist the VP, Partnerships, in the tabulation and reporting of business development targets and attainments.
• Plan and manage logistics for Busara roadshows, including scheduling, briefing materials, and follow-up coordination.

• Strong business development skills
• Strong writing skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to manage high-level relationships
• Flexible
• Self-motivating
• Able to manage multiple tasks efficiently
• Team player
• Curiosity mindset

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or other related field
• 1-3 years of previous work experience related to business development or partnership relationship management.
• Experience in managing large proposal development processes across multiple teams.
• Fluency and excellent communication and writing skills with a mastery of English.
• Outgoing personality and enjoys making connections with new people.
• Ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.
• Understanding of qualitative and quantitative research approaches and methods.
• Excellent management and organizational skills.
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
• Interest and experience working in a fast-paced environment.
• Master’s degree in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields (Desired)
• Experience in business development with core Busara funders, e.g., the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, USAID, DfID, etc. (Desired)
• Experience in developing country contexts (Desired)
• Experience managing or mentoring staff (Desired)
• Familiarity with behavioral science (Desired)